


Thank You For Forgetting My Birthday

by YaGirlJuniper



Series: Juniper's Touhou Fan Canon [6]
Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Amanojaku Logic, Birthday, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Getting Back Together, Girls Kissing, Love Confessions, Romantic Comedy, Silly, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:28:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27614885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YaGirlJuniper/pseuds/YaGirlJuniper
Summary: Shinmyoumaru doesn’t remember Seija’s birthday, and doesn’t care to know. Seija appreciates the gesture more than anyone ever could.Amanojaku Logic galore, this story is a reconstruction of how SeiShin works. It's adorable, it's funny, it's silly as heck, and it's rated G while Seija swears up a storm, because of course she does.
Relationships: Background ReiMari (mentioned and mocked), Kijin Seija/Sukuna Shinmyoumaru, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Juniper's Touhou Fan Canon [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1320842
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

Seija’s body dangled freely as she hung from a tree branch by her legs, so limp even her eyes were letting gravity pull them where it may. There was no one around to curse her name. No motivation to do the ills that would provoke that response. Did anyone even hate her anymore? Her sullen eyes sunk shut as she let out a sigh.

She heard a clink of porcelain below. A familiar purple-haired princess had found a spot just beneath her gaze, standing atop her upside-down bowl. “Hey.” Shinmyoumaru tilted her head and beamed a happy smile.

Seija’s stomach twisted and churned. Who would look so happy on a day like this? There was nothing worth smiling about. Was she smiling at _her?_ How stupid. What kind of twisted individual would smile at an Amanojaku? It just wasn’t done. It made her feel like she really was bad at her job, and her melancholy deepened. She groaned a quiet sigh.

Up and down Shinmyoumaru’s little hand waved. “Sei~ja~”

Seija’s tired eyes didn’t budge. She sluggishly shook her head as her hanging hands opened in a lazy fraction of a shrug. “What?”

Hand hidden in her dangling sleeve that pressed against her lips, Shinmyoumaru chuckled, “Ahmhmhmhm!”

Seija scowled, eyes rolling with purpose now. _Maybe **that’s** why, _she thought, _she knows it’ll piss me off._ “Spill it already,” she hissed and spat, sharp teeth menacing as she did.

“I just left Hakurei Shrine. They’re celebrating Sumireko’s birthday.”

An aggressive shrug, her canines shimmering as her lips curled in bewildered disgust. **“And!?”**

Shinmyoumaru sat down on her bowl with the soles of her tiny feet together. “Well, you know how conversation with Those Two goes.”

Breath hissed in Seija’s throat as she rolled her eyes. _“Please_ don’t remind me.”

“I had to suffer and so will you.” Shinny’s hand windmilled in a droning circle as she grumbled, “they smile at each other, they flirt with each other, they reminisce and go,” she clasped her hands at her cheek and bat her eyes as she piped in a mocking falsetto, “‘remember the time we did a similar thing~?’”

“Gag.” Reimu and Marisa hadn’t even been mentioned by name and Seija was already at her daily limit for their bullshit.

Eyes nestled in their lids, Shinny’s windmilling hand sped to a finish. “They coo, they kiss, they cuddle, they blah blah blah, rinse repeat,” she leaned in with a glare as she finished.

Seija continued to hang motionlessly. “If you’re just here to bitch then I respect it, please continue, but if you got a point then make it.”

Shinmyoumaru beamed and clasped her hands around her toes. “Well then the conversation took a turn that reminded me of you!”

Seija glowered directly at her. “I’m insulted, and not in the cute way.”

Shinny waved it off with a grin. “Nono, listen! They’ve never actually celebrated each other’s birthdays, because it turns out they can’t even remember _their own_ birthdays—”

Seija’s eyes dribbled as they rolled in the back of her head. “Oh my **god** , Sukuna Shinmyoumaru, I _do not care_ what happens to these people!”

“Ahmhmhmhm!” Shinmyoumaru’s eyes fell shut as she happily giggled with both sleeves folded against her lips. Her eyes opened with a smile. “I knew you’d say that.”

 ** _VRRRRZZ,_** buzzed the world as Seija flipped everything over.

“—Uuuwah!” Shinmyoumaru and her bowl tumbled end over end as gravity switched on her and in a hasty panic she climbed inside it as its bottom plopped into Seija’s waiting hand and its lid clacked shut above her.

“Then why bring it up!?” Seija snapped.

Still pleasantly smiling, Shinmyoumaru lifted the lid and answered, “because it proved you right! Birthdays _are_ pointless and stupid!”

Seija’s eyes popped open, turning downward for just a second as a tiny validated smile graced her lips for a fleeting second before it mutated into a vicious sneer. “Heh.”

Shinmyoumaru leaned her elbows on the lip of the bowl with her chin in her hands as she looked up at Seija. “Birthdays are such a human thing. Does any other creature even _celebrate_ a birthday?”

Seija turned off to the side to think. “The Tengu might?” She shook her head. “I mean, fuck ‘em, I don’t care, so don’t go ask ‘em or anything, it just sounds like something they’d do, y’know?”

**_VRRRRZZ_ **

The world flipped upright and Seija sat upon the branch with the bowl in her lap. Shinmyoumaru’s balance wasn’t even disturbed.

“And the **funniest** thing,” Shinmyoumaru’s hand slapped the lip of the bowl with a tiny ringing _thnk,_ “is they asked me how many times I've celebrated _your_ birthday.”

“PFFFFFF-“ The two sputtered and snickered mockingly. Seija’s incredulous smile widened as her leering voice nasally brayed, “are you fucking _kidding me?”_

Shinmyoumaru squealed with derision, “as if I’d ask! As if I’d care!”

“HAHAHAHAHA!” Howling with laughter, Seija blushed and scooped Shinny out of her bowl, gently cradling her against her chest like a tiny porcelain doll she was afraid she might drop and shatter. “ ** _AAAA_** HAHAHAHAHA!”

Shinmyoumaru spread her arms against Seija’s collarbone and snuggled it with her cheek. “I’ll never get you a birthday present as long as I live.”

“Aah—!” Seija chirped a loving cry as she felt her heartstrings tug with affection. “A woman after my own heart.” With Shinmyoumaru cupped in her hands, she lifted her and gazed at her with a heartfelt smile.

Shinmyoumaru blushed and tucked her cheek against her own shoulder. “If that’s what I’m after then I _must_ be a fool. You’re an Amanojaku. Falling in love with you would be the stupidest thing anyone’s ever done.”

Seija softly chuckled as she blushed, playfully tossing a hand. “Stooop~”

Shinny smirked. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

Hand flapping, Seija’s jagged grin stretched the width across her blushing face as she bashfully turned away. _“Stooop~!”_

Shinny sighed with a darling smile, tracing her finger in a circle on Seija’s palm. “I know you’re bad for me, Seija.”

Seija’s heart thudded in her chest as she felt Cupid’s arrow strike true. She wrenched and she whimpered, lifting her closer to her face. “You _do??”_

Tiny hands clasping in her own little lap, Shinny shrugged and shook her head. “I’m afraid I have a type, and it’s bad girls I know are no good for me.”

Seija’s head began to shake and her eyes welled with tears. “Shinny, no…” the pointed nails of her free hand clawed against her lip, “you’re not saying what I think you’re saying, right!? Why would you do a thing like that!?”

Shinmyoumaru sighed with a sideways glance. “I tried to make it work with Tenshi, but she was the kind of person you and I used to have so much fun tearing apart together. She loved the smell of her own feet and if you made any valid criticism of her she’d either deny and deflect or have an excuse ready.” Shinmyoumaru looked Seija in the eye, pat the pad of her palm, and smiled. “You own your awfulness.” Her tiny hand rubbed along the lines near Seija’s thumb. “You’re garbage through and through and you love it.”

“Ahah,” Seija chuckled and blushed and turned away, “it’s true.”

“You pick everyone apart, yourself included. People hate you because you tell it like it is no matter what everyone else thinks, and nature or not, you do speak truth to power, and you never have to resort to lying even though you could.”

Seija let out a crushed sigh as her eyes peeked aside at the dirt. “Yeah… even though I… should,” she mumbled.

“Ahmhmhmhm!” Shinmyoumaru giggled. “Are you worried that you’re a bad Amanojaku?”

Seija’s cheeks glowed crimson and a breath that hissed like gas in an oven rose from throat. Her head turned away until it hurt her neck and her eyebrows crumpled as her eyes pushed shut. “No! What? Don’t be ridiculous! I’m—”

With a catlike smirk, Shinmyoumaru leaned on all fours and tilted a knowing nod. “Are you lying right now because you wish you lied more?”

“—I—” A sigh rushed out and Seija withered at her gaze. Her defenses were crushed. Peering down from above with tears in her eyes, she cradled Shinmyoumaru in both hands as she asked, “am I?”

Shinmyoumaru shook her head. “Not at all.” With shuttered eyes, she hugged Seija’s thumb and snuggled her cheek against the pad right at its base. “You’re the most frustrating person I know.”

Seija’s lips creased as hushed puffs of breath sputtered through her nose. She closed her fingers gently around the tiny woman in her hands.

“I’ll never forget how even when literally everyone was cheating to try and catch you, you alone refused.” Shinny’s eyes cracked open with a smile full of warmth and comfort. “And you blew everyone away. Even me.”

Seija shut her eyes and tears sprung from the cracks as she nodded. Her voice quavered and unevenly cracked, “that was pretty awesome, huh?”

A happy breath passed through Shinny’s teeth as she smiled. “As the last of us lay there beaten, and you alone stood triumphant above us all, I remembered why I fell in love,” the plump of her cheek brushed back and forth on Seija’s hand as she shook her head, and her voice burst forth in a laugh, “and darn it, I fell in love again!”

Seija whimpered.

“I tried so hard to stop myself, but I can’t and I know it.” Shinmyoumaru nestled herself comfortably. “Curse you, Kijin Seija, you’re the worst.”

Seija erupted with sobs, her face splashing as she tucked Shinmyoumaru against her cheek. With a wheeze, her teeth clenched as she wailed, “aaaaaaaaaa, I needed that, Shinnyyyyyyy…”

“I know~ I know you did.” Shinmyoumaru left a tiny kiss on Seija’s cheek with a comforting pat. “You’ve been so depressed.”

Seija coughed out a dying laugh, “and you know what it was?” She sniffled, still croaking with tears. “It’s so stupid. You’re gonna laugh and I won’t blame you.”

“Hm~,” Shinny expectantly hummed.

Seija braced her body as though a tree were about to hit her. “…it’s cuz I missed you…”

Shinmyoumaru touched her chest. “Ohhhhhhhh~!” She splayed against Seija’s cheek with tears springing from her own eyes now.

Seija gently caressed her back with her finger. “You falling for me is one thing, I can _do_ something with that,” in despair she shook her head with a one-handed shrug, “but what kind of Amanojaku falls in love herself!? I’m not supposed to do that…! I’m supposed to manipulate you! String you along!” Her body sank with shame. “I can’t even bring myself to let you down anymore…” Whimpers sputtered from her chest as her tears flowed once again. “I’ve felt like such a **_failure!”_** She held Shinmyoumaru against her cheek. “I love you. Damn it, I really love you…”

Shinmyoumaru tearfully sighed. “Then I guess we’re in this together after all…”

Seija nodded and cried. She felt Shinny pat a signal against her cheek and she pulled back and carried her down, and with a smile and a quiet laugh she caressed Shinny’s cheek with the side of her thumb and Shinmyoumaru wrapped her arm around it.

Eyes at rest, Shinny wiped them dry upon her sleeve. A quiet sigh swept through her nose, and through whispered breaths she continued to speak, “I’ve dreamed for so long of the two of us side by side, Seija, the world cursing our names together. I used to fight it,” her eyes opened, “but now I want to make it come true.” She swept her arm out with a smirk and the Miracle Mallet zapped into her hand, and with a tilt of her wrist she bopped herself on the head with it and she grew to size in a cloudy puff of the Mallet’s power.

Seija gasped as Shinmyoumaru grew heavy atop her, full-sized, and as the soft of their chests rested together, she felt a warmth in her heart that wreathed her in comfort. And what a guilty pleasure it was to embrace it, knowing the darkness in her had brought this to bear after all. The warmth burned on her cheeks and climbed up her nose.

Shinmyoumaru gazed into Seija’s eyes, fingers gliding up her chin. “I missed this too, Seija.” Her palm squished Seija’s cheek and her thumb grazed against her lip. “You’re surprisingly docile, when you let yourself be.”

Seija’s eyes were wide as dishes, and with a trembled breath she swallowed. “—uhh… I, uhh—I’m—”

Shinmyoumaru nodded with a tender smile. “You’re no good at this, I know.” Their noses touched as she descended toward her with a grin. “You are an Amanojaku, after all.”

Before Seija could even awkwardly pucker, Shinmyoumaru’s lips had squished them with a kiss. Seija closed her eyes, and slid her hands around Shinmyoumaru’s back. The rhythm her lips danced to was stilted and clumsy, but even despite everything in her tripping over itself, their kisses still stroked together in sync, as though Shinmyoumaru already knew every missed beat she was going to make, and met her where she’d be. That fact was not lost on Seija at all, and tears sprung from her eyes again.

As their lips parted one last time, Seija’s tried to follow but felt a finger stop them, and she opened her eyes to see Shinmyoumaru smiling back.

Shinny playfully shook her head and pointed in her face. “You’re very difficult to get a good kiss out of, Seija.”

Seija huffed out a chuckle with a devilish sneer. “I’m not even sorry!”

The two of them giggled. Shinny flopped on Seija’s chest, and Seija held her and rubbed along her back, smiling past the leaves above them to the glittering light that trickled in from the sky above where her head had gone and left her body behind. She wasn’t supposed to feel like this. But who cared? No one could tell her what to do. If she wanted to fall in love against every ounce of her nature, she would. Damn it, she would! She was the worst and that was her right.

Wow. She couldn’t even muster the strength to feel defiant right now. There was no room for anything else but the glowing warmth of the bundle lying on her chest. She clutched her more tightly.

Shinny quietly sighed, and tucked her forehead under Seija’s chin.

Seija’s eyes glanced down for moment. Her lips parted then shut again as anxiety tickle-tortured her heart until it fell out through her back. She took a sudden breath. “Shinny??”

“Hm~?” Shinmyoumaru looked up and opened her eyes. She could feel Seija’s heart ramming against her, so this must have been something indeed.

Seija’s eyes were pinned in their corners, turned away, and she quietly squeaked, “…thank you for forgetting my birthday.” Shinny happily smiled, but before she could even reply, Seija lifted up and interjected again, “—I’ll forget yours too! Promise!” She blushed and drifted slowly back to the ground. “Uh…okay?”

Shinmyoumaru rubbed her cheek into Seija’s neck. “I don’t know when my birthday is either, Seija.”

Seija stared past her, then gasped and sat up, cradling Shinny with her arm but stuttering as she went, “Y-y’know those, uh, cookie things you used to eat at Reimu—the shrine?” As their eyes met and Seija saw her scoffing smirk, she began to sweat. “Uhhhh, the uhhhh, the rival cookies?” She spun her hand in a circle. “The like, mushrooms and the chestnuts?”

Shinny smiled up at her. _“Takenoko No Sato_ and _Kinoko No Yama?”_

Seija pointed. “Yeah, those! The ones with the really crazy fans who hate each other! Uhhh, like, which ones are you a fan of?”

“The mushrooms.” Shinny rested against her chest. “Easier to eat when I’m little.”

Seija vigorously nodded. “Okay! Good to know.” She smacked right back down again, but she forgot to hold onto Shinny and went down without her. She decided to pretend she meant to do that.

Shinmyoumaru puffed out a snort. “You’re going to get me the chestnuts, aren’t you?”

Seija defiantly folded her arms with a nod. “You’re damn right I am, and I’m only telling you to spoil the surprise! Because a bad gift is way worse than no gift at all,” her head swung side to side, “and nobody would _dare_ get their loved one the wrong kind of those on purpose! I’m so _evil!”_ She puffed out her chest.

Shinny giggled, eyes wide with a balled hand beside her lips, “are you going to celebrate an un-birthday!?”

Seija huffed and turned away. “No!” She lifted her chin and winced as one of her horns clipped the tree trunk. “I’m just getting you a shitty gift at random! God! Like hell I would get you a gift every day that’s _not_ your birthday when _you_ don’t even know it! I might celebrate your birthday by accident!”

“Ahahahahaha!” Shinmyoumaru crumpled on top of Seija again, and Seija’s smile twinged and her entire body tingled, and there they lay, holding each other for the rest of the afternoon.

Over the next few days, Seija would find the cookies she sought at Kourindou, paying for them with one-yen coins painstakingly counted out one at a time, because stealing them was too charming, too much like _someone_ _else_ that she knew. It took a _special_ kind of asshole to pay for things like _this_ , and three times she laughed so hard she decided to pretend to forget what she’d counted, then slide them all back into her bag with a sneer and start over. In the end, though, despite agonizing over what decision to make for several minutes, she got the mushrooms after all. The chestnuts would have been too hard for Shinny to eat. She went back on her word though, she reasoned to herself, and that was enough.


	2. Omake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A friend asked me to describe what happened next so I made an extra epilogue skit.

Dead silence. Shinmyoumaru covered her mouth. Seija held out the box to her, and it was the kind she wanted after all. A surprise. A _pleasant surprise._

Seija wouldn't even look her in the eye. "Just take it."

Shinny slid it over her head and dropped it at her feet. She tore open the box. They were all intact. A quiet gasp pulled through her parted lips as her eyes watered. "Oh my gosh..."

 _“Tsk!”_ Seija snarled, shut her eyes, and turned her back. "Okay, don't get all mushy on me, just eat it!"

Shinny pulled one out and took a bite. It was a chocolate-covered cookie. The ones she wanted. So stunned was she that she almost forgot to swallow.

Sweat trickled down Seija's forehead as she blushed, hands resting behind her head. A tiny murmur poked out from her throat.

Shinmyoumaru turned to her. "I'm surprised you didn't pop off all the chocolate and just hand me a box of bare cookies."

Seija's eyes burst wide and she gasped in all the air her lungs could hold. **_"FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!"_**

Her bellow echoed all the way up the hill to Hakurei Shrine. Birds flew from the trees as a flock so suddenly the gusts from their wings kicked up dust that blew past Reimu on the patio she'd just swept. She motionlessly stared with a sullen and tired expression devoid of all emotion, and as the sounds of flapping faded off and the wind began to settle, she dropped out a tired sigh. “It’s always something.”


End file.
